Brits Lose Inhibitions And Express Themselves Online
Ninety six per cent of British people commit themselves to a pastime. However 77 per cent of those who would like to pursue a new interest are held back by the lack of time and money available to them, reveals research from MORI and Lycos UK, one of Europe's leading Internet destinations.
The survey found that one quarter of the British workforce cited a pastime as their preferred way of unwinding from work. Reading was the most popular form of escapism (51 per cent), however entertainment, sport and travel were each referenced as favoured pursuits by more than a third of those questioned.
All work and no play
Slaves to the office have another option however, and can devote time to their interests without needing a separate environment. Lycos.co.uk owns the homepage building tool, Tripod.co.uk, where users can build their own website related to a hobby or passion. Constructing a website provides the perfect bridge between work and leisure and makes use of 'downtime' in the office. It is also free, so for those with expensive tastes but shallow pockets, Tripod provides a cost-effective way to indulge.
One fifth of British internet users would like to build their own website and 32 per cent of the 'wannabe' homepage builders cited hobbies as their favoured topic for a website.
Despite this enthusiasm, the research also revealed apprehension about perceived technical barriers to building sites online. Tripod has recently been redesigned to make the homepage construction process even easier and its simplicity is demonstrated by its recent surge in popularity. One million registered users are already making use of the service and the site received 14 million hits in April 2000, a figure which has risen to 34 million this year.
Can you build it? Yes you can
"Tripod makes it easy to build your own website," says Alex Kovach, managing director, Lycos UK & Ireland. "It wins out because of its accessibility. No one wants to be blinded by science or face torturous instructions - that is something we have gone to great lengths to avoid. Tripod is proving to be a fantastic medium to transport people away from office tedium without paying a penny."
Stress busting
"Engaging in hobbies and forward planning holidays, is an essential release mechanism in today's frenetic environment," says Carole Spiers, Chair of the International Stress Management Association UK. "People often find it difficult to unwind and expressing themselves through pastimes is essential to good mental and physical health. Time should be set aside to develop stress relieving techniques such as relaxation, exercise and developing hobbies."
This form of expression can go hand in hand with office life. Tripod's simple to use homepage building facility enables users to build their own site quickly and easily in just one hour, but also enables users to explore 'Pods' or sections that revolve around interest areas, for example sport, music, photography or homes and gardens.
Desktop dining: a sign of the times
Lunch breaks are an oft ignored stretch of time in the workplace, particularly in a computerised or Internet-enabled world. Nearly a quarter of workers never take a proper lunch break and the findings suggest we are increasingly tied to our desks. Thirty three per cent of British workers eat a sandwich at their desk and one fifth talk to colleagues about work in their lunch break.
Continuous immersion in our working environment is less than healthy, particularly when that precious hour could be refreshingly channelled into a hobby. Tripod permits this indulgence, providing employees with a convenient way to make the most of their entitled time.
"This research has uncovered some worrying aspects about our society - namely the pressures people are under at work," says Alnoor Samji, Partner at MORI. "However despite the various frustrations, the British have a clear enthusiasm for their passions. The fact that so many Internet users have already built a website shows that like any other hobby we are game to try it out!"
Technical details
997 interviews were conducted with the general public in Great Britain using stratified random quota sampling. All were aged 15 and over. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in home using CAPI (computer assisted personal interviewing). Fieldwork was conducted between the 22nd and 27th of March 2001 across 189 sampling points.
About Tripod Tripod is Europe's largest Homepage Building Community and is represented in seven European countries: Germany, France, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. In Europe, Tripod pages are visited more than 140 million times per month. Tripod currently has over 2.0 million members all over Europe and around 5,000 users visit every day. In Germany alone, Tripod members number over 800,000. Tripod is therefore the fast growing and largest Homepage and Community Service in Europe. For more information visit www.tripod.co.uk.
Lycos Europe Lycos Europe is one of Europe's leading Internet destinations. It is a powerful network of premium Internet brands combining connectivity, content and community services. On any day, millions of web users are navigating, communicating or publishing their own content on Lycos Europe. Currently, 1 in 3 users in Europe choose a Lycos brand. That makes Lycos Europe a prime destination for on-line advertisers and e-commerce partners. Lycos Europe has Pan European presence with local language and content web sites in 11 countries - Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and the UK and Ireland.
